Life is beautiful with Focus

Hump day

As I am working a 3 day week this week, today was officially hump day. I wish I could say I was looking forward to the weekend, despite going to watch Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3D on Saturday, the cricket at the MCG on Sunday, and trying to fit in 2 yoga classes, I will have to work over the weekend too. I’ve already put in an hour at home tonight already writing a job description for some admin support for me before I spontaneously combust or sit sobbing in a corner. My life is resembling a Dilbert cartoon more and more (just without the sanctuary of a cubicle):

I was even given sympathy today by the person who is causing all the problems, for him to then ask me to do some more stuff! Despite me saying, I am at capacity, I can’t do any more, “Can you just?”

I just sit there dumbfounded, wondering what I did to piss him off. Why doesn’t he listen to me when I say ‘I am too busy’. I am breaking out the broken record tomorrow. I think it is because I am:

* female and;

* qualified and;

* know what I am talking about, but because he is

* male and;

* on a power trip;

* has tried to put fingers in every pie in the business; and a

* micro-managing, control freak, with no people or management skills, who has to show himself in the best light – to the detriment of everyone else in the office;

but as everyone is in the same boat and until now we’ve been wondering who will be the first rat to leave, one left today. Odds are there are another three shortly to jump ship too…

We keep hoping he drops such a big clanger that he can’t stay. I wish I could share some of the emails that leave his desk, however, I can share the experience of greeting people coming for interviews that can barely speak English. That’ll impress the people that have already complained that there is no-one in accounts that has English as first languague. In our weekly meeting today he told them that he didn’t want them to not do their filing, he wanted the file everything as they went. Which is such bad time management to be laughable, so I suggested as an alternative, to write in the top right hand corner where it goes, put it in a ‘filing tray’, and file every morning while their computer warms up so it is done in one batch, not so you are jumping up and down from your desk every 2 minutes. He agreed with what I suggested, then said “So from Monday you will be filing as you go”.

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One thought on “Hump day”

Hey Maddy, here’s my $0.02 on this. I reckon that “control freakism” is the illness of the noughtys – it’s everywhere and it’s bad. But…in my experience the control freak is _always_ driven by anxiety. That means that no matter what anybody else does they can’t ever feel OK. In fact the more you do as they demand the worse they get because they, falsely, believe that if only they could get you to do more they’d feel better. Delegation, trust, support and respect are all alien to these people. These people need psychiatrists not employees!
The only strategy that I’ve found that works is to just say _no_. It’s a world of pain but they eventually get it and either go away or try to get you to go away. Either way’s a winner.
Don’t work overtime, don’t work at weekends, don’t succumb to the bullying because all that just makes it worse. It takes a bucket load of courage to start the push back though!
Best wishes
CA